John Raymond Barker

Don’t Go Gently

On May 7, 2011, I played the role of the great Truman Capote in a staged reading of a new musical by brothers Jim & Sunny Knable called Don’t Go Gently for Jackson Repertory Theatre. The piece was directed by Rosemary Andress and featured myself along with Graham Stevens, Ryan Clardy, Roger Dominic Casey, Michael Bakkensen, Regina Bain, & Marie-France Arcilla. Not only did I really enjoy working with this fantastic group of creators/actors on this wonderful new piece, but I discovered that Mr. Capote is definitely a character I need to reconnect with throughout my career.

Don’t Go Gently follows writer Arthur Brobson into Greenwich Village’s famous White Horse Tavern where he meets the great post-war writers Dylan Thomas, Jack Kerouac, Anais Nin, Truman Capote, and James Baldwin. Arthur carries a secret with him into the White Horse, and only part of that secret is that he is married. If he can’t ﬁgure out how to be himself, he might never become any kind of writer at all.